Lee Man-hee, the chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), who is accused of mobilizing followers to force them to join the People Power Party, was ultimately arrested. This came despite the suspect being over 90, with the gravity of the case and the need for detention recognized.
Kim Jin-man, the warrant-assigning Director General judge of the Seoul Central District Court, on the 24th issued an arrest warrant for Chairman Lee after a substantive warrant review on charges including violating the Political Parties Act, citing a "possibility of destroying criminal evidence."
The core allegation applied to Chairman Lee is that he tried to systematically intervene in the People Power Party's presidential and general election primary races held between 2021 and 2024. The joint police-prosecution investigation headquarters, which is probing alleged collusion between religion and politics, believes Shincheonji assigned secret operation names by each tribe to pressure followers to join the party, and that as a result, more than at least 56,000 followers joined the People Power Party as members. Article 42 of the current Political Parties Act stipulates that no one may force another person to join or leave a political party.
The joint investigation team believes Shincheonji committed these illegal acts with the aim of using political power to resolve long-pending internal tasks, such as changing the use of church-owned buildings without permission. It also determined that this mass enrollment ultimately obstructed the party's fair election-related affairs, and therefore included the charge of obstruction of business in the facts supporting the warrant.
The investigation found that the order to join the party was delivered through a tightly organized chain that started with Chairman Lee, then passed through the church's secretary general, tribe leaders, and local church pastors to the general follower organizations. In particular, internal testimony has been confirmed that before the 2022 presidential election, Chairman Lee pressed senior executives to join as dues-paying members of the People Power Party while mentioning a specific candidate.
In response, Shincheonji argued strongly against a custodial investigation, saying that Chairman Lee, despite his advanced age, had faithfully complied with summons from investigative authorities and therefore had no reason to flee or destroy evidence. But after arguments from both sides, the court sided with detention.
Earlier, the joint investigation team also found a lead that former Shincheonji executives delivered documents containing the personal details of enrolled members to a key figure in the camp of a then-powerful presidential candidate. The gist is that the head of the campaign sought cooperation from the church ahead of an in-party convention in late 2022, and the list was leaked with Chairman Lee's final approval.
With custody secured, the joint investigation team plans to focus on whether there were direct requests or backdoor deals from the political sphere in the process of mass-enrolling followers into a specific party. It also appears Chairman Lee will come under scrutiny over whether he conspired in the crimes of a former secretary general who was arrested on charges of siphoning off church funds in the 10 billion won range.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Justice, as of June, there are five inmates aged 90 or older (four men and one woman).